1

and to keep them all right, we have Formen and Grieves, with Rules and Squairs, Foot and Inches; but the Drons that Budge, or turn their Back, or let a Spittal, or tell Riddles, or Hadaway, and Gamble, or Wager, and do not play Fairly (when Proven), we Trail2 to the Blackhall, and make Mount the Blackstocks, and Burn or Brand them, and have Wands and Tawse3 to whip them. Then they may Begg, but they have a Brougham to plead for them.

Of Kingdoms, Towns, &c. we have France, Sardinia, Ireland, Fife, Pavis, Glasgow, Stirling, Lithgow, Kirkaldy, Sutherland, Angus, Kinghorn, Clydesdale, Leven, Linton, Annan, Durham, Lauder Dalmahey, Corstorphin, Alloway, Abernethy, Galloway, Middleton, Dingwall, Bathgate, Biggar, Scoon, Calder, Berwick, Selkirk, Carlyle, Monteith, Swinton, Boston, Callander, Broughton, Coupar, Coldstream, Elgin, Gifford, Dunbar, Moffat, Balbirnie, Newbigging, Darby, Paisley, Peebles, Beath, Melrose, Stobo, Straiton, Leslie, Anstruther, Traquair, Coventry, Cornwall, Nairn, Lancaster, Roxburgh, Kent, Preston, Lugton, Inderwick, Wakefield, Richmond, Hamilton, Ormiston, Boswell, Hopeton, Currie.

And for means of conveyance, we have Ferries, and Sandy-Fords, like Glassfords, that we can Wade; and for Holloways, we have Bridges, and Broad Streets. Their names are George, Frederick, Nicolson, Drummond, Richmond, Arthur, Carnegie, Gilmour, Blair, Dundas, and Maitland; with both Lanes, and Corners, all with Good Cassie, and a Cross to meet at, and Crosswell to drink at.*

5

4

Grieve, the superintendent of a coal-pit, corruption of grave. 2 Trail, drag.

3 Tawse, straps for castigation.

5 Cassie.?

Gilmour, a chief's attendant, or henchman. * See Crossweller, among Local Surnames, Chapter V, Vol. I.

2

For means of defence against the French, Romanes, Normands or Welsh, or to give a Rolland for an Oliver, or another Fairfax, Charles Stewart, or Paul Jones, we have a Wall with Dykes, Doons, Yetts, and Barrs, with a Portman to Lock them: also Mars the god of war, with his Trenches and Trains, Forts, Wards, and Wardens; and when we Levy our Troops of Hardy, Weatherly, Lothian, Yeaman, Trumen, with their Banners and Bannermen-then the Campbells are Cumming; and the clans with their Andrew Ferraras; then they Mountcastle with the Bold Frasers, Sutherlands, Camerons, and M'Donalds, M'Dougalls, M'Glashans, M'Alpins, M'Bains, M'Alisters, M'Gregors, M'Phersons, M'Leods, M'Nabs, M'Intoshes, M'Leans, M'Kenzies, M'Kays, with Donaldson, Jameson, Robson, Thomson, Johnson; and to command them we have Abercrombie and Graham.

By sea, Bing, Howe, Duncan, Mitchell, Nelson, and Cochrane; and for Armour, we have Guns, Swords, Spears, Baigenets, Daggers, Shields, Forts with Cannans, Bows, Bowmen, and Archers, who so nobly guarded our most gracious Sovereign, when he condescended to visit his ancient Metropolis of Scotland. So I have brought you to the Townsend, and bid you all Godby!

CHAPTER VII.

OF IRISH SURNAMES.

1S if to maintain the characteristic of an aptitude for blundering said to belong to the sister island, what has been written upon the family nomenclature of Ireland has generally been illfounded and erroneous. So, at least, Mr. O'Donovan asserts, in his able and interesting articles communicated to a most meritorious, but now, unfortunately, extinct periodical, illustrative of the antiquities and traditions of Ireland.* This blundering is mainly attributable to an ignorance of the primeval language of the country on the part of the writers who have undertaken to illustrate the subject. Mr. O'Donovan's essays, on the contrary, exhibit a profound knowledge, not only of the language, but of the history and genealogy of his countrymen; and hence I am induced to give a brief general view of his labours in connexion with the family nomenclature of these realms.

The great majority of Irish surnames are derived from the proper names of distinguished ancestors. Local surnames rarely or never occur. Even the names of clans or septs formerly in use were taken from the

* Irish Penny Journal, 1841, pp. 326, 330, 365, 381, 396, 405, 413.

names of distinguished chieftains, and not from the districts they inhabited. In the early records of the country, certain terms expressive of DESCENT are constantly employed to distinguish the various tribes. The tribe-names were formed from those of the progenitors by prefixing the following words:

1. Corc, Corca, race, progeny, as Corc-Modhruadh, now Corcomroe in Clare; Corca-Duibhne, now Corcaguinny, in Kerry.*

2. Cineal, race, descendants, genus. Cineal Eoghain, the race of Eoghan.

3. Clann, children, descendants, as Clann Colmain. 4. Dal, tribe, descendants, as Dal-Riada, Dal-g-cais. This word "properly signifies posterity, or descent by blood; but, in an enlarged and figurative sense, it signifies a district, that is, the division, or part allotted to such posterity."+

5. Muintir, family, people, as Muintir Murchadha, the tribe-name of the O'Flahertys before the establishment of surnames.

6. Siol, seed, progeny, as Siol Aodha, the seed of Hugh.

7. Tealach, family, as Tealach Eathach, the family of Eochy.

8. Sliocht, posterity, as Sliocht Aodha Slaine, the progeny of King Hugh Slany, in Meath.

9. Ua, grandson, descendant; nominative plural, ui; dative or ablative, uibh. This prefix, which is far more

* In England and other European countries the general family nomenclature is derived from places; in Ireland, on the other hand, the names of persons and families were imposed on localities in the patriarchal or Asiatic mode.

† So tribus and pagus apply both to a particular subdivision of a nation or gens, and to the district they inhabit.

usual than the others, is the "O" so common in the existing surnames of the Irish. "Ui," or "I," the plural form of it, was formerly prevalent.

It appears that, up to the period of King Brian Boru, in the tenth century, the Irish people were distinguished by these tribe-names only. That monarch issued "an edict that the descendants of the heads of tribes and families then in power should take name from them, either from the fathers or grandfathers, and that these names should become hereditary and fixed for ever." In compliance with this mandate, the O'Briens of Thomond took their name from the monarch Brian Boru himself, who was slain at the battle of Clontarf, in the year 1014. Other "family names were formed either from the names of the chieftains who fought in that battle, or from those of their sons or fathers: thus the O'Mahonys of Desmond are named from Mahon, the son of Kian, king of Desmond, who fought in this battle; the O'Donohoes from Donogh, whose father, Donnell, was the second in command over the Eugenian forces in the same battle; the O'Donovans from Donovan, whose son, Cathal, commanded the Hy-Cairbre in the same battle; the O'Dugans of Fermoy from Dugan, whose son, Gevenagh, commanded the race of the Druid Mogh Roth in the same battle; the O'Faelans, or Phelans, of the Desies, from Faolan, whose son, Mothla, commanded the Desii of Munster in the same memorable battle; as were the Mac Murroughs of Leinster from Murrogh, whose son, Maelmordha, king of Leinster, assisted the Danes against the Irish monarch. The Mac Carthys of Desmond are named from Carrthach, who is mentioned in the Irish annals as having fought the battle of Maelkenny, in 1043; the O'Conors, of Connaught, from Conor, or Concovar,